Finance careers way to see the world

A new survey suggests that finance and human resources staff in the UK, Australia and Ireland move overseas for the pure joy of travelling. By comparison, their counterparts in France and Germany tend to move abroad for career reasons.

The survey, of 1,800 international finance and HR professionals by Robert Half International, found that 68% and 63% respectively of those surveyed in France and Germany cited a career move as the main reason for heading abroad. In contrast, only 18% of UK respondents gave furthering their career as the main reason to work overseas.

Instead, UK staff were more likely to see overseas employment as an opportunity to 'travel and see the world', with 48% giving this as their primary motivation.

But UK wanderlust paled in comparison to that of staff in Australia and Ireland. Australians and Irish ranked top in Europe when it comes to combining work and travel: 64% of respondents in each country said seeing the world was the main reason to work elsewhere, more than people anywhere else in Europe.